sive internal heat; and are not yet brought into such a state that any animal or vegetable natures with which we are acquainted could inhabit them: though the remarkable history of the extinct organized beings of our own globe, should lead us not to be very confident on this point. To become the fit residence of such natures as ours, by the operation of natural laws, will surely require periods of almost incalculable length. Still further removed from the condition of our globe appears to be that of the nebulae; consisting apparently of the materials out of which comets might be formed: though here too, uncertain conjecture is our only guide. But the point which we wish to be borne in mind, is, that these bodies, as well as the comets, seem to be in a condition analogous to what the records of geology lead us to conjecture might have been the state of our globe at some period of the immense past. The moon, we may reasonably conjecture, seems to be so far redeemed from the excessive violence of volcanic agency, as to be adapted, perhaps, to the natures of some organized beings: though it is doubtful whether that globe has such an element as water, or any atmosphere, upon its surface. This fact, however, by no means militates against the idea that it may contain living beings. For to infer that water and air are essential to all organized existence, because such is the case on this globe, would be the conclusion of a narrow-minded philosophy. Jupiter on the other hand, it would seem, may be covered as yet with one shoreless ocean: and there perhaps such leviathans may now be playing as once sported in the earlier seas of our globe. Such are the motions and orbits of the asteroids of the solar system, that ingenious men have been led to conjecture that they once constituted a single planet between Mars and Jupiter, which was burst asunder by some internal force. And if such a process of refrigeration has taken place in other planets as in our own, might we not admit, that under possible circumstances, such a terrific disruption might have taken place? and that too in exact accordance with the most wise and benevolent plans of the Deity? Those solid meteors that sometimes fall to the earth appear to have been in a state of fusion; and, indeed, they are usually intensely heated when they descend. May we not regard these facts too, as perfectly consonant with the idea that all the bodies of the universe are undergoing important changes by powerful agents, not the least of which is heat? Is it not most natural and philosophical to regard the sun as an immense globe of heated matter, constantly radiating heat into space, and therefore gradually cooling? And what are the spots on its surface, but the incipient crust? And what is the zodiacal light, but elastic vapours, driven by heat from the sun's surface and made to assume an oblate and almost lenticular form? Shall we regard those fixed stars that have in past ages disappeared from the heavens and those which now shine only periodically, as evidence of disorder and ruin among the works of God? Rather let the analogies at which we have hinted lead us to view them as worlds in particular stages of those mighty changes to which we have reason to believe the universe is subject, and without which all would be stagnation and death. We acknowledge that these astronomical facts afford us but faint glimpses of the geology of other worlds. Nevertheless, they seem to us to lead the mind that is conversant with the geological history of our globe, irresistibly to the conclusions that similar causes are in operation, and similar changes are in progress, in other worlds: and that perpetual change is not an anomaly peculiar to our planet, but the very essence of a vast system embracing the wide universe. Faint as is the light that is yet thrown upon this subject, yet what an immense field for contemplation does it disclose to our view! and how do the plans of the Infinite Mind enlarge and ramify as we gaze upon them, until we see them connecting past eternity with that which is to come; the two extremities being lost in the dimness of distance! God is here exhibited to us as employing the same matter, under successive forms, for a great variety of different purposes; all, however, connected into one vast system; and all bearing upon the happiness of animated natures. How much more of grandeur and moral sublimity does such a view of creation exhibit, than the common opinion, which supposes this world, and even a large proportion of the whole universe, created to subserve the wants of man, and to be destroyed when man ceases to exist. The latter plan might, indeed, be worthy of a man, or an angel; but the former is worthy of the Deity.' Sed cum eae rationes, quibus inductus Universum condididit, intellectui divino semper observaventur, cur mihi non persuadeam, Deum infinite potentem ac bonum jam multis vetro saeculis And in what a new aspect does the view we have taken of this all-pervading principle of change, exhibit the tendency to decay and ruin so deeply marked on the whole material world! Poets and sentimentalists have ever taken a melancholy interest in depicting the perishable nature of all created things: "What does not fade? The tower that long had stood But let this tendency to dissolution be regarded only as one of the necessary forms through which matter passes, in its progress towards improvement, and as necessary to the preservation and happiness of the universe, as in fact an essential feature of a sublime and far-reaching plan of the Deity; and when we see nature thus apparently descending into her grave, we shall look upon her drooping form as a sure presage of her speedy resurrection in renovated strength and beauty. The decay and dissolution of our own bodies (in which there is something evidently penal,) have thrown a melancholy aspect over the great and salutary changes which take place in na mundi systemata produxisse, cur vim ejus creatricem angustis terrae nostrae, cujus existentiam sex mille circiter annos non excedere lubens fateor, terminis circumscribeam? "Since the reasons that led the Deity to found the Universe always exhibit a Divine Intelligence, why should I not believe, that a God infinitely powerful and good, created the system of the world many ages ago? Why should I confine his creating power to the narrow limits of our earth, whose duration I willingly confess does not exceed six thousand years?"-Doederléinii Theologia, p. 477. Note by the commentator, C. Godofr. Junge. VOL. V. No. 17. 18 ture only for the good of the universe. But the view of the subject which we have taken, dissolves this unhappy association, and leads us to connect all the revolutions of the material world with its improvement and with the vast plans of Jehovah. But we will dwell no longer on this great theme. Our only hope is that we have thrown light enough into this almost unexplored field, to satisfy noble minds that here they may obtain such glimpses of the purposes of the Deity, as will fill and overwhelm the loftiest intellect, and excite the strongest emotions of reverence and love towards the Infinite Mind that is capable of continuing and executing such plans. Such is the religion of geology. Prejudice may call it atheism, because it presents before us views so new and peculiar ; and scepticism may pervert these views to suit an unsubdued and unholy heart. But we call this religion a transcript of the Divine Perfections. And if there be one spot in the whole circle of science, where the student of natural theology can find fuel to kindle up the flame of devotion, it is, as it seems to us, when he secures a live coal from the altar of geology. ARTICLE V. SLAVERY IN ANCIENT GREECE. By the Editor. THERE has not been any attempt, within our knowledge, to investigate thoroughly the condition of Grecian Slavery. The ancient historian, for the most part, concerned himself only with the freeborn citizen. He had in general no sympathies to expend in behalf of the great prostrate multitude who toiled and died unseen. We have allusions, incidental notices, paragraphs scattered here and there in the long records from Hesiod down to the historians of Byzantium. The thoughtful tragedian The German work of Reitemeier excepted, which we have not been able to procure. So far as we know, he is the only authour, who has written formally on the subject. sometimes drops a tear for the poor slave, and the comic poet raises a laugh at his expense, but no Xenophon was found to lift the curtain and detail the features of that system, which deprived at least two thirds of the population of Greece of all political importance, and, in a great measure, of happiness itself. In the following pages we propose to collect and embody such facts and notices as a somewhat patient examination of Greek writers has brought to our knowledge. Greece, in its early days, was in a state of perpetual piratical warfare. Cattle as the great means of subsistence, were first the object of plunder. Then, as the inhabitants, by degrees, engaged in agricultural pursuits, men, women, and children were sought for slaves. A sea, which has innumerable islands and ports, offered powerful incentives to piracy. Perhaps the conduct of the Phenicians towards the uncivilized nations, among whom the desire of gain led them, was not always the most upright or humane. Hostilities would naturally ensue; and hence might first arise the estimation of piracy which was a fruitful source of slavery, and long prevailed among the Greeks as an honourable practice. From the general account of the polity of the island of Crete, furnished by Plato and Aristotle, we find that Minos established his system upon two principles; that freemen should be all equal; and that they should be served by slaves. The soil was cultivated by the slaves on the public account; the freemen ate together at the public tables, and their families were subsisted from the public stock. While a comparatively small society lived in freedom and honourable leisure, a much larger portion of the human race was, for their sakes, doomed to rigid and irredeemable slavery. In the same manner, without doubt, the early inhabitants of Sicyon, Corinth, Argos, and other cities, were unhappily divided. In Homer, we find many allusions to manners and customs growing out of a state of slavery. "These are the evils," we are told in the Iliad, "that follow the capture of a town; the men are killed; the city is burned to the ground; the women and children of all ranks are carried off for slaves."1 "Wretch that I am," says Priam, "what evil does the great Jupiter bring on me in my old age! My sons slain, my daughters dragged into slavery; violence pervading even the chambers of my pal 1 Τέκνα δέ τ ̓ ἄλλοι ἄγουσι, βαθυζώνους τε γυναῖκας· Ι. ΙΧ. 594. |